Although we had ordered breakfast the night before, when we got downstairs at 6:30am the restaurant was swamped. (but the views were fantastic!)
We waited until 7:05, shoved our food in to go boxes and ran down the street to the whale shark interaction center. While waiting, I drank a mug full of hot, caffeinated tea. Upon arrival at the center I became super nauseous and had to find the bathroom. I came back and ate my toast while Mark and I watched the safety briefing video. The boat we boarded looked very much like a crab. I later was told the reason the boats were built like this was for extra stability and less rocking while sailing on the sea. Boy would I have been thankful for these types of boats in Thailand! There were 6 of us on our boat- two russians, a spaniard, a local teenage boy and Mark and I. The boat crew consisted of a boat driver and a spotter. The spotter called out so we all hopped in, but the shark got scared and swam away. While our spotter kept an eye, we sailed across the beautiful blue sea. It was a gorgeous day full of sun and I was soaking up every minute of it (a bit too much apparently because once we returned home my arms, back and neck were red as tomatoes). We'd spent a few hours on the boat without a sighting so I had resigned myself to the fact that our boat may head in without us getting a chance to swim. However, at the last moment, our spotter told us to hop in quick. Within seconds ten plus boats descended upon us and hundreds of people were jumping in all around us. I looked down and saw the tail swim under me. I swam as hard as I could trying to keep up but there were so many people. It was exhausting. The process went like this: we swam for awhile following the shark and then the boat looped around, picked us up and sped ahead so that it could drop us in the water in front of the shark and we could swim with it again. By the end of this pattern I was so tired, but it afforded me the opportunity to swim right above the shark-- if I had reached my arm down I would have been able to touch it I was so close. Mark was able to swim much faster and managed to get in front of the shark so he got an amazing view of it's mouth. Because this was at the end of our four hour tour, we didn't get to spend as much time in the water as the spaniard man on our boat would have liked, so at one point he refused to get out of the water while our boat chased him down. He just kept on swimming. Once he did get out he was yelling at our guide on the boat. It was super uncomfortable, so the rest of us just sat in silence while eating sandwiches and fruits.
Once we returned to shore we headed back to our hotel to shower and change (we had to check out but were able to leave our bags at reception).
We went down the road for lunch and ended up in our own quiet bungalow overlooking the ocean. It was perfect! I ordered chicken in coconut cream with rice and papaya and Mark had blackened fish (his was tastier than mine) After lunch we took a nap in the hammocks and then grabbed a drink at the outdoor bar of our hotel. We met a really nice guy, Mike, who was going to see the live crucifixion reenactments that were supposed to be taking place later in the week. (This wasn't news to us because Mark's aunt had traveled to the Philippines previously and had told us stories about her time at the crucifixion). Mike "knew some folks" so had press pass access. We exchanged contact info because Mark and I sure were curious to hear what the easter crucifixion reenactments really were like. TBC...
After our mid afternoon drinks we hopped in a van with Manfred and headed to the airport in Legazpi. The airport is INCREDIBLY tiny, so much so that all of the eateries and restrooms are located outside of it. We sat outside on chairs made out of truck tires while we waited for our flight- we couldn't go in the airport until our plane arrived because there was no room for us.
As we waited outside we were able to see the ashy glow from Mt. Mayon in the distance. It was a beautiful evening.
Once we landed in Manila we headed for Tambayan Capsule Hostel, a swanky new age accommodation with great reviews. However, when we arrived (about 9pm) they informed us that there was a problem with our room and that we had been upgraded to a 3 star hotel down the street. Say WHAT?! We were on the 34th floor and had an amazing view of the city complete with our own private balcony. We sure were living in luxury!
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